The Homestuck Games
by treacheroustorment
Summary: The Game's over. Everyone survived. But it wasn't a clear victory. When you glitch the game in order to win, bad things can happen. Very, very bad things. M for intense violence and language.
1. Chapter 1

It's been a long damn time.

You walk out of the doors and heft your hammer onto your shoulder, shielding your eyes with a gloved hand and looking up to the bright sun.

More than a year.

You look around, and all around you are those people you once would've called your friends. The people you wish you could still call your friends. People that are just as weathered and rugged as you are now.

Long enough to forget your name if you hadn't been so determined to remember it.

You can see the same slightly lost, scared, hurting look on their faces. The same look of hardiness that you'd always seen on their faces during the game. The hard glint in their eyes as they prepared themselves for possible death.

Long enough to change your friends back into soldiers.

They're all ready and able to kill. You know that as much as anyone else.

You're the tributes.

The tributes for a bloody, horrible "game."

_Hello._

As one, all your heads lift to the pillar in the center of the circular ring you've been pushed into. He's wearing a green suit, tailored to perfection. His face is backlit by the sun such that there's no way for anyone to see what he really looks like.

Sometimes you wonder if he even has a face.

_You have trained well. We have overseen these last eighteen months for you._

Eighteen months. It's been eighteen months since you could call them friends in broad daylight.

_We have prepared you for the ultimate test._

It's funny how you can still tell that way he sets his head, that way she places her hands. How you've been training with them for eighteen months, and even had you not exchanged a single word in that time, you would still know them.

A test of life and death.

In a way, it hurts more because you have stayed such good friends over the months.

A test of how far you're willing to go to save yourself.

The man laughs quietly, but it's a cold laugh, a harsh laugh, and it sends chills down your spine.

_I hope for the best to win._

_And may the odds be ever in your favor.__  
_

* * *

_**A/N**_: Yeah so this is just a little teaser. It's not all going to be told from John's point of view, but I felt like the baby poster child of Homestuck would be a good place to start. Expect the story to be at least mostly done by the time the hiatus is over. ;)


	2. Chapter 2

"I fucking hate you."

"Yes, darling, we know." Your voice is quiet, weathered. "Go sit back down."

"You're not my mother, Kanaya," Karkat mutters, turning back to Vriska. "You realize," Karkat snarls, stalking up to the much taller cobaltblood standing on the other side of the room, "if you would've fucking _listened_ to me, we wouldn't even _be_ in this mess?"

"Oh, go ahead and blame it on me, smartass," Vriska scowls, pursing her lips. "If I'd listened to you, we wouldn't even be alive."

"That would be preferable to sitting in this fucking shitstained moldy wet dump of a place waiting for our goddamn execution!" Karkat screams in frustration, turning away from the other troll. "What the fuck made you think it was a good idea to fucking _cheat the game_?!"

Vriska stalks after him, turning him around sharply. "I was saving our skins, dumbass. Don't tell me you wouldn't have done the same thing."

"_You glitched the goddamn fucking game_," he screeches, pushing her away from him. "What on any planet that ever has or will be created made you think that would be a good idea?"

"You little-" Vriska lunges toward him, dark eyes glowing in fury, but you step in quickly, pushing her back and allowing her to be held there by Eridan and Equius. Though she's flailing, she can't do much against the other two trolls.

"Listen to me, Karkat," you say sharply, turning on the shorter troll. "It was nobody's fault. It is not her fault that the game was able to be glitched. It was not her fault that the resulting glitch made Scratch the ruler of the new planet. It was not any singular person's fault, and suggesting it is betrays a very narrow-minded and dangerous view of how the game works." You stand proudly, almost intimidating. "It was no more her fault than it was yours. Do not blame her for it."

Karkat looks like he's about to protest, then he just snarls at you and goes to sit down by where the door to the cage is. "Fine," he mumbles, shaking his head. "Whatever."

For a second, you're ready to go after him; you know he listens to you more than he listens to most other people. However, you just end up sighing and sitting back down, gesturing the two male trolls to set Vriska down as well. "Listen," you say softly, speaking to everyone as a whole. "I know we aren't sure what's going on. I know that we just won the game not very long ago... and things are confusing." You lift your head proudly and look around the room, meeting everyone's gazes. "But I believe that we can find a way to make it through. We faced Doc Scratch once before already. We can face him down again and win."

"We don't… we don't even know what he's doing…" Tavros sighs from where he's sitting. "We can't… fight him if we're not sure how this is even going to work."

"We'll have to stay alert," you reply, still quiet. "From what I've gathered, it seems like it will be a long time before any of us actually do anything. Just stay strong."

Everyone nods, the exhaustion in their eyes almost palatable.

"We're going to die, aren't we." The soft voice comes from Nepeta, who's curled up in the corner. "Doc Scratch isn't going to let us stay alive… why would he?"

"Of course he wouldn't," lisps Sollux, scoffing at the little troll. "Why the hell would he just let us survive?"

"Sollux?" your voice is almost sickeningly sweet, poison honey dripping from your teeth.

"Yeah?"

"Shut the fuck up."

Sollux sticks his split tongue out at you, but complies, slouching over by the wall.

Aradia smiles, her eyes bright. "Dying isn't as bad as you would think," she says softly, addressing everyone. "And I'm sure that we can find a way to get out of it."

"Oh, lay off, Aradia," snarls Karkat from where he's sitting. "We all know you don't give a shit about dying. But guess what, some of us _enjoy_ living, and we'd like it to fucking _continue_ for as long as possible."

"Karkat, it's really not as big a deal as people make it out to be." She smiles over at him, eyes still wide and bright. "Dead people can be just as nice as alive people!"

Something inside the little mutantblood seems to snap, and he stands up, turning around and hissing at her. "Of course you would say that, your fucking _boyfriend_ is the one who killed you‼"

"I'm sorry, douchewagon, do you have any say in this?" Sollux sounds infuriated, angered beyond belief. "It wasn't even me, it was that shitbiscuit that calls herself a troll!" He's standing now too, glaring at Karkat from behind his glasses.

"Oh, now you're going to be throwing rocks at me, sounds lovely‼" Vriska stands as well, brushing her hair out of her face. "Don't throw rocks in glass houses, computer boy, unless you want me to bring up all the shitty things _you've_ done!"

"Stop!" You stand up, walking in between the fighting trolls, your dress flowing around your ankles. Fixing them each with a glare, you continue, "Do you truly think we have more of a chance of surviving when we're all fighting like this? Do you even _remember_ what happened when we were all fighting during the game? We almost died, and some of us _did_ die!"

The tension kind of deflates, and they all sit back down, almost ashamed.

"I know it's terrifying," you continue. "I know. But the only way we can possibly survive from this is to work together." With a sigh, you sit down as well. "Let's wait to get in touch with the humans again… hopefully they'll be able to help."

Everyone nods, somehow slightly defeated. They're scared, but most of them are trying not to show it.

Because they're supposed to be stronger than this.


End file.
